Have you looked at the Glance Screen on your Nokia windows Phone and wondered what it would look like if you added a background image? Nokia has released a beta app that enables you to achieve just that. Glance Background is a new app for Nokia hardware that allows you to pick and choose images to have set as a background when the Glance Screen is active.

It's a simple app, but the end result is really impressive. Selecting up to four images, the slideshow will begin when the phone is locked, rolling through checked images while the Glance Screen is active. The best part is how the backgrounds don't water down the functionality of the feature, which is to conserve battery while displaying the time to save you waking up the display.

When adding your own images, a simple editor is utilised that offers basic functionality. Available effects include colorise and zoom. Thanks to the camera capabilities in the Lumia 1020, you'll be able to zoom in on loaded photos and create some interesting backgrounds. With reports coming in that further customisation will be present in the Bittersweet shimmer update, we'll look forward to see how Nokia can further improve the glance Screen experience.

If you're wanting to check out the app and see what all the fuss is about, be sure to download Glance Background from the Windows Phone Store (requires Amber update - not available for Lumia 520 or Lumia 625). It's worth noting that night mode will of course prevent the images from being displayed.

*Looks at his Nokia C7, N8, and 808 Purview as they hand off Sleeping Screen to his Lumia 1020

As a long time Nokia customer, I appreciate this addition and I am glad to see this and other Symbian/Meego abilities (Glance/Standby Clock/Screensaver, Double Tap to wake and so forth) come to Windows Phone. :)

Actually all the updates that nokia is pushing will eventually become a part of windows phone 8 only. (as Microsoft will acquire Nokia's devices business). so glance screen is exclusive to us only for a while.

Turning it off is fine. But for people who do use it, they will have two lockscreens, which makes no sense at all. I see no use for lockscreen with pictures and notifications. Just showing the time is fine.

How are they two lock screens, glance is just a replacement for ur dead black screen n not ur lock screen ... U still have the same method to unlock ur phone(press the lock button n swipe up) no extra steps have been added... I just dont understand the bitching here

So there's the glance screen which has the notifications, and then you get the lockscreen which will give the same info of notifications, and then the start screen. Its the same screen twice. Im not bitching.... Its a fact that the two screens are essentially the same. And if I have glance turned on, the lockscreen is a waste. Hence having both screens is a waste.

If the glance just shows battery and time, and then there's a lockscreen, its ok. But if glance shows notifications and time, it makes no sense to have the lockscreen as well.

I was thinking it would be cool to have a background on the glance screen just the other day and now Nokia does it. Now I am thinking if Nokia/Microsoft can release a 20 mp phone that isn't 6 inches and for AT&T and have true OTA updates.

Nokia..
I will always love you for supporting your customers till the very end..
Even as I see you passing away slowly..you still are doing all you can..and that..is true commitment..
Nokia Forever! \m/

If you have been with Nokia before they made Windows Phones then this article and video is more than likely why you love Nokia.
I am glad to see Nokia, as in the creative minds that brought us all of the devices and services that so many of us like, love and have depended on all of these years. I look foward what the creative minds at Nokia will develop in the future.

People are too worried about Microsoft buying them. If anything, I think Nokia is gonna help change the culture in Microsoft for the better. There's a reason why MS did it. They saw the value in the talent, engineers and marketing team. Something MS has been struggling with for a while now. The Nokia team will still do what they do best, only change will be is being under a giant that has the resources to push Nokia tech forward

Well that's not Nokia's problem. They are brining the lockscreen that hundreds of million Symbian users have used to use.
Only the vital notifications are missing from maemo and Symbian. Should be there on GDR3.

i don't think so.
glance is for quick checking.
i use it a lot, and it in no way messes with my lockscreen.
at times i just wanna see the time. why unlock the phone? i simply take it out of my pocket and it shows me the time. (i use "peek" mode) and when i need to see pending notifications and lockscreen messages (calender or other apps) i just see the lockscreen.
i agree introduction of notifications on glance will make the use of lockscreen a little less, but that's perfectly ok. it still has the detailed notification and connectivity status and i can change my ringtone settings from there, all without having to unlock the phone.
but yes, background to the glance screen is a welcome addition as (in my case) glance screen is probably what i view of my phone the most. so adding some colour and visuals to it makes my experience better. the same may apply to many others.
and in the end you always have an option to switch it off if you don't need it. :)

I like glance, but I sort of get it too... why not make it so that the default lock screen is one of the options to see at a glance? I.e.... when I wave at it, it just shows me the lock screen?

But NOT complaining... glance is pretty cool. Between wave to see and double tap to wake, its pretty cool.

The only problem is the motion feature is ultra sensitive. I'm about 2ft way from my phone and its detecting my movement and keeping Glance on. I had to cover the FFC and light sensor with a polish cloth to keep it from 'seeing' me.

And I'm still waiting for Amber, they haven't release the update yet in most of Latin America, not even a word in México, came to WP8/Nokia hoping a better experience and not the same waiting hell as android. Still love my 720 without Amber, great Smartphone, best choice ever, the thing is, I would like nokia to set more reallistic update periods, waited Amber whole september.
So, I don't undestand why so much hate on AT&T, at least they gave a date already.
Love the site and community, cheers!

I wonder if Microsoft will release all the Nokia Collection apps to all the WP users once the acquisition is completed. It makes sense for MS to do that to promote WP phones - at least with a fee of course.

if you use the peak option, when you take your phone from your pocket you don't even to touch on a single key or screen to see the time ( or notifications on the future gdr3 ).. after seeing what you needed, put the phone on the pocket and the screen will turn off automatically ( it uses the proximity sensor to turn off the screen)

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but its also kind of cool to not have to tap nothing. Wave my hand in the middle of the night... or walk up to my phone and glance down at it. I know I know I know... how much of a difference is it to doulbe tap instead? Not much... but its like wireless charging... some of us will just love it.

One is a quick reference screen that requires no tapping or button pressing and saves battery. The other is the gateway to your phone allowing a key lock and full colour backgrounds.
It would be nice if you could disable the lockscreen completely and just use Glance. But that's not ideal for seeing notifications in strong lighting conditions.

Other than the method of acces, it provides the same info. If I have glance turned on with notifications, I still have to pass through the lock screen which has those notifications. I have to get through two screens to reach the home screen. Its almost pointless.

Depends on your phone. If you have a phone which has an LCD screen, because the backlight is on anyways it will not add any more battery drain than just the plain glace screen. If you have a phone with an AMOLED screen then yes it will cause slightly more battery drain than just the plain glace screen because it has to light more pixels. Even with an AMOLED screen though I would assume the extra drain is pretty negligable.

I noticed Nokia achieves this by reducing the colour depth on the display. That's probably how they can do this without draining the battery much. It's probably similar to the way my iPod classic reduces the colour depth on the display when left idle playing a song and it switches to a screen showing the time, which is nice.
I hope this won't cause the pixels to burn in.

Wow this is wonderful, now MS please open up the APIs so that there can be cool app innovations using the Glance feature. It will surely be the envy of many if apps are allowed to control the glance screen like the lock screen.